June 23, 2010
Flash Week continues at Collected Editions with my guest review of Flash: The Human Race. The trade covers the second half of the year-long Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run: The Flash must run in a cosmic race or else the Earth will be destroyed, but even afterward, death comes for him in the form of the Black Flash. Finally, rounding out Grant Morrison’s Flash solo stories is a short from Secret Origins which retells the classic “Flash of Two Worlds” in modern Post-Crisis continuity.
June 21, 2010
The Collected Editions blog has just started Flash Week, a whole week of reviews of Flash trade paperbacks and hardcovers, leading up to a review of Flash: Rebirth. First up: a review of The Return of Barry Allen.
Along the way, I’ll be contributing a couple of guest reviews covering the Grant Morrison/Mark Millar collections, Emergency Stop and The Human Race.
Collected Editions is a great site for news about upcoming DC Comics (and sometimes other) collections as well as reviews. The site also maintains the DC Trade Paperback Timeline. Last year they put together a Top Flash Trade Paperbacks list.
August 7, 2009
Some linkblogging for the end of the week:
Flash Features
Comics Alliance has a huge interview with Geoff Johns in which he talks about the emotional bases of the characters he’s writing, particularly the various Lantern Corps in Blackest Night. At the end he talks a bit about the Flash, and speed, and how easy it is to get caught up in wanting to do more, faster.
Crimson Lightning is running a casting poll for the Flash movie. At the moment, Neil Patrick Harris is the clear leader. Stop by Crimson Lightning and check in with your vote!
Flash writer Geoff Johns and soon-to-be Kid Flash writer Sterling Gates top this list of top five favorite comic writers right now.
A bit old, but I’ll blame the fact that I was at Comic-Con when he posted it: A Spanish Flash cover set Kaiser the Great to thinking about Flash v.1 #346 and how it sparked a drive to collect the Silver-and-Bronze Age series.
Related to the Flash helmet, @ValVictory made an interesting find at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
Wider World of Comics
Grumpy Old Fan looks at DC’s line-up and categorized its titles into three groups: “foundational” books that have been around more-or-less continuously since the Silver Age like Superman, Flash, Batman etc., “historical” books that run for a while, get canceled, then keep coming back like Teen Titans or Outsiders, and “new” books that come out of nowhere and disappear a few years later.
IO9 asks, what’s with all the undeath in superhero comics?
CSBG’s one-paragraph reviews include Flash: The Human Race
.
Topless Robot has a photo of Two Dozen Awesomely Nerdy Cupcakes topped with symbols for the Flash, Ghostbusters, Autobots and Decepticons, Captain America, the Galactic Empire, etc. (via Robot6)
Indie Pulp: Mark Waid’s Irredeemable Ways.
The Weekly Crisis has launched a side project (with oddly-familiar initials 
): SpiderFail.org, inspired by a mention in Amazing Spider-Man #601.
Added: Artist Cliff Chiang posted a tribute to recently-passed director John Hughes in the form of a Teen Titans homage to The Breakfast Club. (via @Robot6)
Added: The John Ostrander benefit auction at Chicago Comic-Con is tomorrow. If you’re at the con, consider checking it out. If you’re not at the con, take a look at the website: it’s got a huge gallery of artwork that’s been donated for the auction.
June 9, 2009
Some quick linkblogging for the night before Flash: Rebirth #3 hits the stands.
Flash: Rebirth…
First, I’ve got a guest post up at The Weekly Crisis detailing 5 Possible Candidates for The Flash: Rebirth‘s Mystery Villain.
‘Twas the Night Before Wednesday’s J. Caleb Mozzocco (Blog@Newsarama) is more enthused about the collected edition of Flash: The Human Race with “Huge Silver Age cosmic action and huge stakes” than about Flash: Rebirth #3, “in which your dad’s Flash races Superman.”
Can’t Wait for Wednesday’s JK Parkin (Robot 6), on the other hand, is solidly on board. “I wasn’t wild about the first issue, but the second one really sucked me in. This issue features the return of a classic: Superman racing The Flash.”
Update: I noticed a post from 2007 on my other blog is getting more attention than usual, probably because it links Barry Allen and the Black Flash.
…And Beyond
You will soon be able to read Perhapanauts and Tellos on the iPhone. The two creator-owned series have strong Impulse connections. Tellos is a fantasy adventure story created by Impulse writer Todd Dezago and Flash artist Mike Wieringo — Bart Allen’s co-creator. Perhapanauts an action/horror/comedy created by Dezago and Impulse artist Craig Rousseau. I highly recommend both series.
DC Collector posts a sketch of a Jay Garrick figurine from the Eaglemoss DC Super-Hero Collection. It makes me wish I lived in the UK.
Silver Age Comics profiles Julius Schwartz, legendary editor of DC’s Silver Age who oversaw the 1956 revamp of the Flash.
Cartoon Flophouse doesn’t shy away from strong opinions in 5 DC Comics Characters Which Would Translate Better to Film Than Wonder Woman or The Flash.
A bit off-topic, Watch This Space wants to know which of several serialized stories on the blog should not return.
June 8, 2009
It’s a big Flash week, with the third issue of the now-six-part Flash: Rebirth, a new trade paperback collecting the second half of the Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run from the late 1990s, the Final Crisis hardcover, and various team books.
The Flash: Rebirth #3
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and covers by Ethan Van Sciver
At last, the answer to the question that’s plagued DC fans for decades: Who’s faster, Superman or The Flash? Call your bookie and bet the farm, because you’ve never seen a run like this — and if speedsters keep dying at the pace they’re going, you might never see another one again!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver). 5-page preview.
3 of 5 6 · 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Notes: I’ve mentioned before that the question of who’s faster has been answered many times over. It’s always close, and if there’s a winner, it’s always the Flash.
Flash: The Human Race TP
Written by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar
Art by Mike Parobeck, Paul Ryan, Pop Mhan, Steve Lightle and others
Cover by Steve Lightle
Grant Morrison and Mark Millar’s run with the Fastest Man Alive continues here! Collects The Flash #136-141 as well as a story from Secret Origins #50.
160 pg, FC, $14.99 US
Note: The story from Secret Origins #50 is almost certainly Grant Morrison’s retelling of “Flash of Two Worlds.” Pre-order from Amazon or read about it here.
Team books and more after the cut: Read the rest of this entry »
December 16, 2008
The newsletter DC Comics Direct Channel #914 identifies the contents of the upcoming Flash Presents: Mercury Falling and Flash: The Human Race trade paperbacks.
May 2009: Flash Presents: Mercury Falling (Todd Dezago, Ethan Van Sciver) will collect Impulse #62-67. That covers the 5-issue story arc itself as well as the one-issue epilogue guest-starring the Justice League, Justice Society and Young Justice.
June 2009: Flash: The Human Race (Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Paul Ryan, Pop Mhan) will collect Flash v.2 #136-141 and a story from Secret Origins #50. The Flash issues cover both “The Human Race” and “The Black Flash.”
The Secret Origins story is undoubtedly the retelling of the classic “Flash of Two Worlds,” (Flash v.1 #123) in which Grant Morrison figured out how to incorporate the parallel-world story into a single-world setting. Unless I’ve forgotten something, this volume and Flash: Emergency Stop will cover all of Grant Morrison’s Flash solo work.
It also lists the Final Crisis hardcover coming out in June, along with the Final Crisis Companion trade paperback, which includes all the FC one-shots (including Superman: Beyond, which started as a one-shot that just got too long.) No word yet on when Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge will be collected, but there are supposed to be more summer 2009 announcements later this week.
October 28, 2008
More Flash news from Collected Editions: Fall 2009 will also see the release of the trade paperback, Flash: The Human Race. No doubt this will collect Flash #136-141, containing “The Human Race” (Grant Morrison & Mark Millar, with art by Paul Ryan & John Nyberg) and “The Black Flash,” (Mark Millar with art by Pop Mhan & Chris Ivy), rounding out the Morrison/Millar run on The Flash starts with January’s release of The Flash: Emergency Stop.
Frankly, I’m surprised they went with “The Human Race” as the title. I think “The Black Flash” is a more well-remembered (and well-regarded) story, particularly given the character’s recent appearances in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive — Full Throttle.
Now if DC will just start filling in some of the missing stories from the Mark Waid/Brian Augustyn run…
Update: Amazon now shows a release date of June 9, 2009.
June 15, 2008
Updated: See end of post! Back in 1997, Mark Waid took a break from writing The Flash so he could work on JLA: Year One. Final Crisis scribe Grant Morrison and Civil War writer Mark Millar stepped in for a year, co-writing issues #130-138, with Millar writing #139-141 solo. At the end of the year, Waid and Brian Augustyn returned with the epic “Chain Lightning.” To date, none of the Morrison/Millar run has ben collected.
The stories had a much more sci-fi take on the character than had been seen since the Silver Age, and included:
Emergency Stop (#130-132): The Flash finds his own dead body, sent back in time from the future, and has to solve his own murder. Introduced The Suit, the ultimate super-villain costume that came to life, draining those who wore it.
Flash Through the Looking Glass (#133), battling the Mirror Master.
Still Life in the Fast Lane (#134): A spotlight on Jay Garrick, the original Flash, as he fills in for an injured Wally West.
Three of a Kind (#135): Part of a crossover with Green Lantern and Green Arrow, in which the youngest members of the Justice League try to take a vacation…only to find a trio of super-villains is on the same cruise.
The Human Race (#136-138): Wally must compete in a galactic race against his childhood imaginary friend, Krakkl of the planet Kwyzz. If he loses, Earth is destroyed. If he wins, Krakkl’s homeworld is destroyed.
The Black Flash (#139-141): Death comes to everyone, even speedsters… but this time, Death takes the wrong target. Introduced the Black Flash, who featured prominently on the cover of last year’s cover for Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13 (remember those Dead Flash Covers?).
Now, eagle-eyed Comic Bloc poster Lee H has spotted The Flash: Emergency Stop
on Amazon, coming in January 2009. There’s no official word yet, and the Amazon listing doesn’t include a page count, so it’s not clear how many of the issues will appear. We may find out soon, however: tomorrow DC will announce solicitations for September, and they usually include upcoming collected works as well.
Update (June 20): Collected Editions reports that the book does include “The Black Flash.” Whether that means the entire run is included, or just the first and last arcs, remains to be seen.
Update: It turns out that the 12-issue run is being split across two trades, Emergency Stop and The Human Race. “The Black Flash” appears in the latter.
